Hummingbirdiness

I was out on the deck looking at some ducks when a hummingbird flew up by the feeder (a few feet from where I was standing) and then quickly flew off when I looked its way. The exciting part was that it was a new hummingbird! Up until now, I've only seen Anna's Humminbirds around here since I moved in the fall, but spring is bringing more, exciting wildlife!

Fortunately, I was able to wait inside for it to come back so I could take more photos through the window. These aren't the greatest due to the lighting, but they give you an idea. I'm pretty certain this is a male Rufous Hummingbird.

(Don't you love how the drawings on that site are sooooo different from the photos? I mean, I love WhatBird--it has helped me identify lots of birds--but the illustrations are rarely very accurate since they have such vivid colors. The birds would really only look that way if a thousand angels were shining light and rainbows directly onto the bird in question.)


One of the few shots I got where you can see his lovely red neck. That's right, I said red neck!


Oh wait, here's another neck shot! (I wrote this post awhile ago and took more photos since starting it.) Lovely, especially when he's flying in sunlight.




Cheeeeeeeck me out! I got a photo with his little beak open! And why yes, that does seem to be a tiny hummingbird tongue. He's smacking his lips at the delicious sugar water that I slaved over just for him! Enjoy, little buddy! I'll put it on your tab.

And now, the highlight of my day...


!!!! Two at once! I was just thinking earlier, "I wonder if I'll ever get more than one bird on the feeder once the weather gets nicer," and here I got two and it's totally windy and rainy out! Plus, special bonus: another tongue shot! You can see a bit of tongue on the right-side bird. AND: I think the left-side bird is a female Rufous, but I thought it was a female Anna's. That means I've been seeing the Rufous for weeks now but didn't realize since it was always the girl and they are harder to identify. Such an educational day. So this scene you're looking at is basically a date.. my deck is incredibly romantic.